"Boring! Why on earth would I keep reading? Isn't this blog all about shopping??" I hear ya. However this won't change the content of Bought by Birdette all that much as I don't plan on restricting my window shopping! There should actually be more content then usual as I'll be reporting back on my progress and posting about the things that I've been tempted to break on and my progress towards my goal.
So what exactly does this entail? I will begin this Payday, Tuesday the 8th of January and conclude on April 18. Here are the ground rules I've decided on.
Allowed Purchases:
- Gifts (Birthdays etc, and I do recall a wedding coming up later this month)
- Materials to make Gifts
- Materials to complete any craft/DIY projects I've already started, nothing from scratch
- Necessary toiletries (shampoo, toothpaste etc)
- Magazines (Hey, a girl still needs her past-times I won't be buying any more then my usual amount I still won't admit to ...)
- One Haircut, but no blow-drying
- Groceries (food, cleaning products, but nothing too extravagant, I do not need to buy a box of pricey icecreams)
- Medication and doctors if required
- Rent and bills
- Bus tickets
- Limited entertainment, one date night/movie per fortnight to keep from going insane.
- Makeup (Colour make up is banned, but Foundation, Concealer, Moisturiser type products and Hair removal etc are only allowed if completely out)
- Lunch is to be brought from home, can only be bought in unusual circumstances (working out of office, left in the fridge etc)
- Beauty services are banned, but one massage per month is allowed if required
- Laybys are allowed if I find something I truly cannot live without, to be fully purchased at end of 100 days.
- Takeaways are still allowed, but only once a fortnight
- Giftcards and vouchers may be used. I will have my birthday during this Challenge
- I have been hunting a Buffet sidetable for months, If I find the perfect one second hand or on special, challenge be damned
- For the sake of keeping up appearances, purchases for things like friend's parties and the odd after work drink are allowed, but to be kept to a minimum
- Should I choose to sell anything while on this challenge, money garnered from that can be spent.
- Blog necessities, I'm talking things like business cards and tech support are allowed, purchases to write about are not.
- Coloured make up, no shadows, no lippys, I have more then enough
- Clothes! This will be the hardest thing to stop buying, I'm always finding things I want to add to my wardrobe, so this ban will hopefully make me see what I already have and use it to the fullest!
- Accessories
- Books. My only exception to this is the yearly Lifeline Bookfest and that's only because it's yearly and for charity
- Stationery
- Pretty much everything that hasn't already been mentioned. Items from the grey area and banned list are what generally bleed a hole in my wallet, I'm sure I'll think of some stuff to add to the grey area over time
So I couldn't possibly do all of this without some sort of goal and reward in sight could I? This is where I'll have a problem again as I've always been an instant gratification type of person. For every day that I survive the challenge I will be putting $10 into a savings account, to be used for reward at the end. Considering I normally give myself a pretty generous budget of just under $400 per fortnight to spend on whatever -and still usually blow it- this will still give me an extra boost to pay off my credit card debt as well as provide an ample incentive to stick to my budget.
So hopefully that's everything covered, Feel free to join me in my endeavours and if you do decide to do something similar, Let me know. I'd love to see how others are going, I actually found the inspiration to do this from fellow bloggers so keep in touch too!
